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Listen "103 – The Importance of Music Entrepreneurship – with Sean Murphy of Murphy Music Press Publishing"
Episode Synopsis
Music entrepreneurship courses are beginning to pop up in more colleges and universities. But with that also comes some important questions, such as what is music entrepreneurship and why does it matter?
In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, Assistant Professor of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at Baldwin Wallace University and owner of Murphy Music Press Publishing Sean brings some much-needed insight to these important questions.
Download the PDF Transcription
Podcast Highlights:
00:14 – Introduction
00:28 – What is the definition of music entrepreneurship?
02:13 – What sort of qualities would you be looking for in a music entrepreneur?
03:21 – People skills
05:26 – Why is music entrepreneurship important?
08:21 – Choosing yourself
09:46 – Why are you passionate about music entrepreneurship?
12:46 – Why hasn’t music publishing adapted to the needs of composers?
16:07 – How did you end up at Baldwin Wallace University?
17:59 – What is it like to live in Ohio?
19:27 – Employment and music entrepreneurship?
24:24 – What kinds of freelancing opportunities are available today?
29:06 – How do musicians make money today?
35:29 – What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered as an entrepreneur?
38:57 – What are some of the biggest victories you’ve experienced as an entrepreneur?
42:08 – Are there any books that have inspired and helped you on your journey?
43:52 – Is there anything else I should have asked?
Transcription:
David Andrew Wiebe: Today I’m chatting with Assistant Professor of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at Baldwin Wallace University, and owner of Murphy Music Press Publishing, Sean Murphy. How are you today Sean?
Sean Murphy: I'm doing well. Thanks so much for having me on.
David Andrew: Yeah, it's a pleasure. So, it seems like people can’t agree entirely on this. I'm going to start off by asking what your definition of music entrepreneurship is.
Sean: That's a great question. I think a lot of musicians are maybe averse to the term entrepreneurship in general because the idea of mixing business concepts with the idea of musical performance, I think to some people it's kind of like an unholy marriage.
So, I would define entrepreneurship as kind of the intersection of creativity and innovation. For musicians, I feel like that's just what we do every single day in our product and what we do.
Entrepreneurship is the intersection of creativity and innovation.Share on X
So, my definition of music entrepreneurship is really just the skillset that is necessary for one to survive in the music industry itself because without any entrepreneurial abilities I think we see a lot of unfortunate cases where some musicians have to change careers or change music into more of a hobby than an income generating device.
David Andrew: I can get behind everything you just said for sure, because there are so many musicians out there that go “Oh, but I just want to focus on the creative side of things.” which I totally understand but if you don't market your music, if nobody knows who you are, if you don't build your email list, or know anything about social media or building websites, pretty much you don't have a career, right?
Sean: Yeah. It's difficult to be a musician but a lot of people already possess these entrepreneurial qualities they just don't think of them in that way.
Part of what I do, I think it's also educating people on the fact that they already possess a lot of these qualities and then just manipulating them in such a way that would be beneficial for their long-term success in music, is really what I should go about doing.
David Andrew: I think that's true too. What sort of qualities would you be looking for?
Sean: Well, I think creativity is definitely at the forefront but as I kind of referenced before, all the musicians I feel like are inherently creative or they wouldn't be in this field...
In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, Assistant Professor of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at Baldwin Wallace University and owner of Murphy Music Press Publishing Sean brings some much-needed insight to these important questions.
Download the PDF Transcription
Podcast Highlights:
00:14 – Introduction
00:28 – What is the definition of music entrepreneurship?
02:13 – What sort of qualities would you be looking for in a music entrepreneur?
03:21 – People skills
05:26 – Why is music entrepreneurship important?
08:21 – Choosing yourself
09:46 – Why are you passionate about music entrepreneurship?
12:46 – Why hasn’t music publishing adapted to the needs of composers?
16:07 – How did you end up at Baldwin Wallace University?
17:59 – What is it like to live in Ohio?
19:27 – Employment and music entrepreneurship?
24:24 – What kinds of freelancing opportunities are available today?
29:06 – How do musicians make money today?
35:29 – What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered as an entrepreneur?
38:57 – What are some of the biggest victories you’ve experienced as an entrepreneur?
42:08 – Are there any books that have inspired and helped you on your journey?
43:52 – Is there anything else I should have asked?
Transcription:
David Andrew Wiebe: Today I’m chatting with Assistant Professor of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at Baldwin Wallace University, and owner of Murphy Music Press Publishing, Sean Murphy. How are you today Sean?
Sean Murphy: I'm doing well. Thanks so much for having me on.
David Andrew: Yeah, it's a pleasure. So, it seems like people can’t agree entirely on this. I'm going to start off by asking what your definition of music entrepreneurship is.
Sean: That's a great question. I think a lot of musicians are maybe averse to the term entrepreneurship in general because the idea of mixing business concepts with the idea of musical performance, I think to some people it's kind of like an unholy marriage.
So, I would define entrepreneurship as kind of the intersection of creativity and innovation. For musicians, I feel like that's just what we do every single day in our product and what we do.
Entrepreneurship is the intersection of creativity and innovation.Share on X
So, my definition of music entrepreneurship is really just the skillset that is necessary for one to survive in the music industry itself because without any entrepreneurial abilities I think we see a lot of unfortunate cases where some musicians have to change careers or change music into more of a hobby than an income generating device.
David Andrew: I can get behind everything you just said for sure, because there are so many musicians out there that go “Oh, but I just want to focus on the creative side of things.” which I totally understand but if you don't market your music, if nobody knows who you are, if you don't build your email list, or know anything about social media or building websites, pretty much you don't have a career, right?
Sean: Yeah. It's difficult to be a musician but a lot of people already possess these entrepreneurial qualities they just don't think of them in that way.
Part of what I do, I think it's also educating people on the fact that they already possess a lot of these qualities and then just manipulating them in such a way that would be beneficial for their long-term success in music, is really what I should go about doing.
David Andrew: I think that's true too. What sort of qualities would you be looking for?
Sean: Well, I think creativity is definitely at the forefront but as I kind of referenced before, all the musicians I feel like are inherently creative or they wouldn't be in this field...
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